Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus released a statement Thursday calling on Jim Allen, the GOP County Chairman in Montgomery County, Ill. to resign for "astonishingly offensive" comments he made comparing black, female Republican congressional candidate Erika Harold to a "street walker."

"The astonishingly offensive views expressed by Chairman Allen have absolutely no place among the leaders of our party at any level. His behavior is inexcusable and must not be tolerated. He should apologize to Erika Harold and resign immediately," Priebus said.

Allen made his comments on Harold in an email to the website Republican News Watch. Harold is a former Miss America who is running in a primary against incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL). In his email, Allen predicted Davis will defeat Harold and she will end up "working for some law firm that needs to meet their quota for minority hires" next year.